Strategies for promoting entrepreneurship opportunities

42 JHER Vol. 13, December, 2010

JHER Vol. 13, December, 2010, pp. 42-49

Strategies for Promoting Entrepreneurship Opportunitiesin Clothing and Textile Education

Alice NwaokaomahFederal Polytechnic,

Oko.

Abstract A possible solution to the problem of unemployment is self-employment

of individuals which is the central focus of entrepreneurship. Hence this

paper reviewed entrepreneurial opportunities available in clothing and

textile, hindrances to entrepreneurship in clothing and textile education,

strategies for promoting entrepreneurship amongst the graduates are

also reviewed.

Introduction Entrepreneurship is defined as theprocess of creating somethingdifferent with value by devoting thenecessary time and assuming theaccompanying financial psychic andsocial risks and reviewing theresulting rewards of most personalsatisfactions (Lankford, 2004). Hence,entrepreneurship is about self-reliancec r ea t i v i ty an d takin g r isk .Entrepreneurship is the continuousprocess of utilizing resources toproduce new goods and services. Ode(2006), Dabson and Malkin (2003)defined entrepreneurship as a personwho makes money by running abusiness especially when it involvestaking financial risk. Entrepreneurshipis the continuous process of combingresources to produce new goods and

services. Ode (2006), Dabson andMalkin (2003) defined an entrepreneuras a person who creates and managesa business undertaking, assuming therisk for the sake of profit. Hornby(2000) defined an entrepreneur as aperson who makes money by runninga business especially when it involvestaking financial risk. An entrepreneurshould be self-confident; that is, he orshe should believe in himself orherself, be self-reliant, innovative andcreative hardworking, be a good setterand be able to take risks from financialinvestment. In the context of thisstudy, entrepreneurship implies theinvestment of one’s resources inplanning, organizing, implementing,clothing and textile educationobjectives in order to generate wealthfor ones economic survival.

43JHER Vol. 13, December, 2010

The goal of entrepreneurial skillseducation, therefore, is to orientstudents towards self-reliance if wage-earning jobs become inaccessible.However, clothing and textile, whichis one of the major areas of Homeeconomic, is studied at tertiary anduniversity level emphasizes skillacquisition for its graduates with aview to enhancing their capability forself-employment ventures.

Clothing and textile education is abranch of Home economics educationthat is concerned with the acquisitionand development of practical skills bythe beneficiaries. Ossai (2001) notedthat clothing and textile is one of thecourses offered in Nigeria tertiaryinstitutions. One of the objectives ofNigeria education is to produce skilledperson who are able to play effectiveroles in National economic andt e c h n o l o g i c a l g r o w t h a n ddevelopment (Lemechi, 2001).

Clothing and textile as a skill-oriented course helps to equipindividuals with saleable skills neededfor self-reliance. Clothing and textileequip individuals for enormousemployment opportunities inoccupations relating to clothing andtextile namely: Dress making/clothingconstruction, Designing, Dry cleaningand laundering, Tie-dying andbatiking, beauty care and hairdressing, fashion merchandising,pattern illustration etc.

The realization of the laudableobjectives of clothing and textileeducation depend largely on the

implementation strategies employedfor students to be able to performadequately in clothing and textilecourse content should be effectivelytaught. Anozie (2003) indicated thatthe extent to which the rate of learningamong students or learners generallycan be accelerated depends often onthe teacher and teaching devicesavailable at his disposal.

Anyakoha (2002) remarked that thegreatest challenge of Home Economicsis to determine those issues that posevarious forms of threat to individuals,families and society at large and thenaddress then most appropriately. Thesociety is faced with such problems asincreasing unemployment, corruptionad poverty among others. Clothingand textile, which is an aspect ofHome Economics, should identifythese problems and deal with themdecisively.

Poverty is regarded as the scarcityof basic human needs, - food, shelterand clothing. Poverty is equallyregarded as the inability to attain aminimum standard of living, (Ogbene,2006). Promoting entrepreneurshipwith creativity makes room for self-employment thereby reducing povertyin the society. Clothing and textileencourages the expansion ofknowledge and development of theskills by every individual in thesociety. The aim of clothing and textileis centered on the acquisition ofknowledge and skills that can beapplied for purposefully living.

This paper focuses on some


entrepreneurial opportunity inclothing and textile, hindrance toentrepreneurial in clothing and textileas well as strategies to improveclothing and textile educationentrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurship opportunities inclothing and textile education Clothing and textile education shouldequip students in tertiary institutionswith saleable skills and thus possescapacity of helping them become self-reliant after graduation for economicempowerment of the family, hencereducing unemployment problems ofthe country. The entrepreneurshipopportunities in clothing and textileeducation include:

# Designing: Individuals in thisbusiness usually create newdesigns for garments. There aredesigners for fabrics/textiles aswell as for clothing accessories(Anyakoha, 2007). The graduatesof clothing and textile educationcan engaged themselves in thiswork for purposeful living.

# Dress making/clothing construction:Dress makers are those who design,cut, arrange and sew differentcomponents of dresses (Okeke andAnyakoha, 2004). The skills indressing making are acquired inprimary and secondary schoolsthrough needlework and throughc l o t h i n g c o n s t r u c t i o nclasses/fashion and designingclasses in tertiary institutions.

Outside the school programme theskill can be acquired throughapprenticeship. According toOchiagha (1995), this is to be mostcommon method of acquiring theskill. It is one of the sorest waysthrough which young people canfind their way into the labourmarket.

# Dry cleaning and laundering:(Anyakoha, 2007), pointed out thatdry-cleaners and launderers dryclean launder clothing articles forpeople. They can engage in theproduction and selling of cassavastarch and home chemicals for stainremoval. The graduates of clothingand textile education can involvethemselves in dry cleaning andl a u n d e r i n g f o r e c o n om i cempowerment.

# Tie-dying and batiking: Graduates ofclothing and textile education cando tie-dying and batiking toproduce ‘Adire’ and other locallydyed materials to earn a living.They can equally establish tie-dyeand batik institute where they cantrain people.

# Modeling: Graduates of clothingand textile education can work infashion industries. He/she wearsnewly designed dress styles forpeople to see and buy (Anyakoha,2007).

# Beauty care and hair dressing:Beauticians and hair dresses runsalons where they take care ofpeople’s hair and perform otherbeauty treatments, hence beauty


care and hair dressing is anotherbusiness venture available inclothing and textile education.

# Fashion merchandising: This isanother avenue of entrepreneurialopportunity for clothing and textilegraduates. They select, buy and selltextile, appeals and other clothingaccessories in other to earn theirliving (Anyakoha, 2007). They cansell cloths ranging from Nigeriawax wrappers materials forchieftaincy wears to materials forsewing coats and other wears forvarious occasions (Lemechi, 2002).

# Pattern illustrators develop paperpattern for sale: (Anyakoha, 2007).Lemchi, (2002) also pointed out thatpattern making involves themaking of patterns for males andfemales, children adults alike forsale.

# Knitting and crocheting shop: Thegraduates of clothing and textileseducation can engage in kitting andcrocheting to earn a living orhe/she knit cardigan for bothchildren and adults.

Hindrances to entrepreneurial inclothing and textile educationIn Nigeria, especially in secondaryschool or tertiary institutions, clothingand textile is taught peripherallywithout serious efforts on the part ofthe teachers to make the studentsproficient in the course (Lemchi, 2001).This could be due to lack of teacherswho can teach the subject. Iyere(2002), pointed out that lack of

equipment in the clothing and textilelaboratories is a major problem. Thismakes the teachers and students toconcentrate on the theoretical aspectof the course. Some of the equipmentprovided is not properly taken care of.

Ozioko, (2006) listed some schoolconditions that hinder creativity instudents. # Large classes where regimentation

is essential instead of effectivepractical exercises.

# The belief of teachers that creativestudents are hard to manage andtheir work harder to grade.

# Strong emphasis on imitations.# Discouragement of anything

outside the prescribed pattern.# Instructional strategies that do not

engage students in experimentallearning but lead them to observed,interpret, analyze, make andconsider consequences.

# Teachers strategies that do notcontextualize learning to providestudents reflection over anextended period of time.

# Teachers not serving as facilitatorsallowing students to construct theirknowledge through learningapplication, action, review andreflection.

Funding need of clothing and textileeducation Funding remains a strong militatingfactor in provision of study materials;the plague of insufficient textbooksand journals is also a problem. Sometextbooks are outdated while others


are perhaps of foreign background,which may not actually meet our localneeds.

Strategies to improve clothing andtextile entrepreneurship # Okoh (1983), pointed that teachers

should respect their students ideasand questions in order to fostercreative thinking in them.

# Teachers should stress on discoveryand exploration for the students.

Venter (1997) opined that forindividuals to develop theirentrepreneurship skills, they shouldhave an unbending confidence in theirability to come up with solutions tobusiness problems. They have tobelieve that the work can be done; thismakes way for creativity solutions.

Individuals should learn divergentthinking strategies to enable him orher generate many ideas and criticalthinking, skill to enable him evaluateand make choices of suitable ideas forthe success of the businessundertaking (Hisrich, Peters and2002).

Ozioko (2006), stated thatindividuals should discover new waysof using existing resources andmaterials to produce completely newor changed revisions of existing goodsand services.

The individual should accept his orher own initiative; motivated byproblems he or she should be curiousand push boundaries of competence.When creativity is inculcated inindividuals from their early years of

education, they will be vibrant in anyarea of profession they choose.

Clothing and textile teachers can beinvolved in entrepreneurship for self-reliance by teaching individuals howto raise money for living throughvarious tasks and skills in clothingand textile programmes.

Flexibility in the thoughts of anindividual will help him or her to bereceptive to new concepts, ideas,materials and approaches to improvethe business. Ekpo (1994), stated thatthere is need for government tomodify educational curriculum so thatat an earlier stage, children are taughtto be productive and creative. Theability to venture and compete mustbe installed into children at their earlystage as this will auger well for self-reliance, economic growth and fordevelopment that is sustainable.Adamu (2000) opined that the trainingof students should be on turn outindividuals who can be self-employedand technically sound professionalthat can man the clothing and textileindustry.

Iyere (2000) opined that emphasisshould be place on training andretraining of teachers of clothing andtextile in our institution of learning.Asuquo (2007) also stated thatknowledge of teachers must beupdated through further trainingprogrammes. Teachers of clothing andtextile should be sponsored to theirstudies especially in this era of rapidtechnological changes. They shouldupdate their knowledge in new trends


in equipment and machines Asuquo (2007) pointed out thatvocational and technical education inwhich clothing and textile educationfall into requires a lot of physicalequipment and other infrastructure tothrive. The schools need to carry outregular maintenance on existingequipment so as to keep them in acontinuous working condition foreffective to take place.

ConclusionThis paper examined some theentrepreneurial opportunity availablein clothing and textile education sucha s D r e s s m a k i n g / c l o t h i n gconstruction, designing, Dry cleaningand laundering, Tie-dyeing andbatiking, modeling, beauty care andhair dressing fashion merchandisingpattern illustration etc. The paper alsol i s te d s o me h i n d r a n c e s t oentrepreneurial in clothing and textileeducation. Lack of equipments in theclothing and textile laboratories,improper funding of the course etc

Recommendations# Government should assist in

funding the course as well asregular maintenance on the existingequipment so as to keep them incontinuous working condition foreffective learning.

# In view of the problems identified,government should organizet r a i n i n g a n d r e t r a i n i n gprogrammes for clothing andtextile teachers.

# Students should be encouraged tobuy their own equipment whichwill be useful in starting off theirown business after graduation foreconomic empowerment.

# Government and the communitywhere the college is situated shouldhelp to build laboratories andpurchase equipment for clothingand textile education.

# Small loan and grants should begiven to clothing and textilestudents, which will enable them tostart off any business of their choiceafter graduation.

# Practical lessons should beallocated more time so thatstudents will have opportunities tomaster the skills.

# Workshops and seminars should beencouraged in clothing and textileeducation so as to update theirknowledge with new trends inequipment and machines.

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